Monday, July 31, 2017

Turning Angel by Greg Iles

DNF

Penn Cage #2

I tried. I made it 70% of the way through this book before calling it a day. I really wanted to like it. I wasn't counting on another joyful find like the Armand Gamache books, but I was hoping to at least like the guy. Sadly, it didn't happen.

I found this book to be filled with what I have come to understand as white man privilege, I guess. All I know is that I found the tone of the book to be racist, both overtly and subtext as well as misogynistic. For the latter, there is just too much what I might call Marty-Sueism having to do with the man in his 40s being beguiled, seduced, attracted to the sensual, not as innocent as she looks, 17 year old school girl. Poor, helpless men. *eyeroll*

And the portrayal of black people in this book? SO very stereotypical in every way. The only thing we're missing is the wise, loyal black housekeeper who basically brought up the children. But then I checked some info on the first book in the series and it looks like she was murdered then. These are attitudes I would expect to find in a book about the 1950s south and while things maybe haven't changed a lot down there since then - I don't expect the upright hero of the book to have those attitudes.

I just did not like the way this book was making me feel. I found myself making that ... "Huh? What?" face on more than one occasion. It felt ugly.

I hate DNFing a book, it feels like a failure, but I have to remember, it's the book's failure, not mine. I have book 3 in my e-TBR pile, but I don't know if I'll ever get to it.